Patients attending urgent outpatient appointments at Fife’s hospitals are to be screened for symptoms of Covid-19 in a bid to halt the virus’ spread.
The health board has confirmed that anyone arriving at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital or Dunfermline’s Queen Margaret Hospital for the foreseeable future will be asked a series of questions and will have their temperature taken by a nurse.
It is aimed at preventing anyone with coronavirus symptoms from entering public areas and potentially spreading the disease.
A spokesperson for NHS Fife said: “Please arrive a little earlier to allow this to take place.”
The new measures come into place on the day NHS Fife’s board was due to meet for its regular meeting.
A new approach has been agreed which will see members not convene meetings in public while the organisation and the country is responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Board and committee meetings are expected to be carried out by teleconference, video conference, or in any setting where board members do not have to physically meet for the duration of the crisis.
The decision has been taken for the “special reason of protecting public health, and the health and well-being of anyone who would have otherwise attended”.
Committee and board meeting papers – as well as the minutes of any meetings normally held in public – will still be published online.
